Dark Athena
by Axatullux
Summary: COMPLETELY AU-Revision of a previous version. Set in 1997, The CSI's investigate a crime scene only to uncover a horrible plot by a longtime enemy. Includes Jo Danville. Rated M for graphic violence and bloodshed.
1. Chapter 1

**New York City…May 1997**

It was an unseasonably cool early May in New York amidst the labyrinth of tall apartment blocks and freeways, and railways criss-crossing through the cityscape. The thick fog hovering over the region gave the entire city a ghostly appearance, with very poor visibility. Yet the eeriness failed to mask that chaos going on. The city, and the nation in tow, was in the midst of political turmoil due to declining popularity of the city mayor's policies, high unemployment, political polarization, and high food prices.

In addition, news stories were circulating of strange 'beings' terrorizing the world, including the NYC area. Many of these beings were human in appearance but had unusual appearances, almost alien in appearance. Their crimes became more frequent after 1995 due to repeated government shutdowns disrupting public services throughout the country.

**Somewhere in the South Bronx , Shortly after midnight…**

With unseasonably cool, damp, foggy weather, the entire neighborhood had a ghostly appearance, the street lights were like very still ghosts floating above a pothole-marked street.

Down on a nearby basketball court, a trio of gangbangers was confronting a trio of rival gang members on the empty lot on the western end of the court. Amidst screaming, profanity, slurs, and the sound of glass breaking, a series of gunshots rang through the neighborhood.

A half-a-dozen minutes later, the sound of police sirens became audible and several gang members fled into the night leaving two 21-year old men injured, both being hauled into ambulances. As police investigated what went on, they noticed bullet casings scattered in the area and collected them. As the doors closed on the ambulances, they left the scene, with the police taking the evidence from the crime scene to their respective crime labs.

Minutes later, the New York Forensics Team showed up, with Mac Taylor, Jo Danville, Sheldon Hawkes, Danny Messer, Aiden Burn, and Lindsay Monroe all with suitcases. They would draw circles around every bullet case that was lying on the pavement, cordon off the area, take photos of the scene, including the small blood spatter, and collect the evidence to take back to the lab. There were occasional cliques of unruly men wandering nearby, fistfights ensuing. The officers were all on alert to repel any trouble doers that would jeopardize the safety of the detectives investigating the crime scene.

"What do we have?" Mac asks Jo, crouched over a dead body of one of the gang members. "Point of entry at the sternum. No exit wound. Gunshot residue indicated close range." Jo tells Mac, as she places the empty bullet casing into an evidence bag. The next half hour sees the team gathering more evidence from the shootings at the basketball court and placing them in evidence bags.

Aiden used a black light to detect blood spatter on the ground and nearby brick masonry. The blood glowed bright pink when illuminated by the black light. Using a cotton swab, Burn swiped some blood and placed it in an airtight vial.

"We must get as much back to the lab as possible. I don't feel safe here." Aiden said, slightly nervous. "My parents described this as Dresden in America when I was a kid" she continued, a look of slight weariness as she turned her head, scanning the dingy surroundings for any potential trouble.

Almost immediately though, Mac felt a cold nausea set in, which distracted him. At first he just looked like he was distracted, either by some kind of bad tasting substance or had a tummy ache. He held his stomach, and winced in a quiet pain. "Mac? Are you okay?" Jo asked, feeling slight alarm at Mac's sudden apparent illness. "Mac?" she continued. However, his nausua worsened and he began to have a hard time keeping his posture.

"It's not the flu or stomach ache. There's something, or somebody really evil not far from here." He said, his face suddenly showing pallor. His vision was suddenly blurry, and everything seemed to turn into various shades of hellish red. The sound of Jo and others' voices were muffled, almost inaudible as everything seemed blurry and deep red. After roughly 30 seconds, the redness of his eyesight, and blurriness subsided, and his hearing returned to normal.

"Mac! Can you hear me? Are you okay?" Jo pleaded, fearing for him. "We need to get you to the hospital!" she continued, a sense of alarm at Mac's sudden apparent illness.

Mac, still feeling nauseated was able to talk again. "Get everyone out of here. Something, or somebody, very evil is here. Don't wait around. We need to leave here immediately."

Others, including Aiden Burn felt something very bad overcome them. Burn herself felt something very, very cold, like an Arctic cold feeling overcome her, the sense of a major evil having a presence nearby. Using whatever strength they had, they scrambled to gather up evidence to take back to the lab before whatever was causing the apparent 'phantom illness' would endanger their safety.

After processing the crime scene, the team left to return to the New York Crime Lab all being escorted by police officers acting as bodyguards. The sound of gunfire, car alarms, and even breaking glass were all too common to them at the moment.


	2. Approaching Darkness

**30 seconds later… **

(Cuts to a scene in a nearby neighborhood, a fluorescent light flickering amidst the darkness…)

The sound of two men fighting, either each other, even punches flying until suddenly the sound of bones breaking, and the sound of those same bones being crushed, with the sound of men suddenly giving a death rattle was followed by a scene of the two men falling onto the ground…dead. The silhouetted bodies fell onto the unlit street.

On a poorly lit section of street, roughly two blocks northeast, the sound of high heels faded into audible range. A Rottweiler that was eating a piece of a sub that was littered notices something approaching from the darkness in the nearby alley. As it raised its ears, the Rottweiler began to bare its teeth, growling. As the high-heels got more audible, the dog began barking. A silhouetted-looking female figure walks into the picture, no features noticeable except that the shape of the hair indicating that this person had long curly hair. In the background, the dog that was frantically barking at whatever was approaching. The clank was becoming more audible as her high-heels touched the cracked sidewalk... As this woman walked forward, her right hand came into view. Clenched in a fist-like fashion, her hand shimmered with bright silver, easily noticeable even in the poor light before it turned back into normal skin-like texture.

With a nearly burnt-out fluorescent light overhead, she came into view. Her face showed a large nose, curly hair but the angle of the faint light, combined with the shape of her eye sockets, made it impossible to see her eyes, nor her face except the tip of her nose. Upon approaching the flickering fluorescent light more details became more noticeable. Very prominent cheekbones were lit with shades of brownish gray and black, the effects of the greenish-white light illuminating her face, the eyes were still hidden except for a point of light reflecting off seemingly solid black eyeballs, no iris, or pupils were visible. Yet her eyesight was far superior to normal humans, as was her hearing.

The dog was now in near-attack position, barking frantically at the woman. As she walked forward, and closer into view, the dog stopped barking and instantly fled, it's barking giving away to fearful yelping and disappeared into a nearby alleyway. The women than walked into a better lit area and her face was much more visible. Her eyes were of pure darkness, hands were bright silver. Both of her hands were in liquid metal form, and were tightly clenched. Before she walked any further, she was approached by two white males and one African-American.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in." drawled one of the men, obviously drunk. The two others laughed with him. Stella though kept on going, not giving the slightest shit about them. The men then confronted her, unaware of who she was. "Hey, honey! We're talking to you. Why don't you ever answer?" he kept taunting her, all three circling her now but she didn't even say a word. "Would you like to go on a hot date ha babe?" the drunken man kept taunting.

As they kept shoving her, her hands which were normal tan turned black before turning into bright metallic silver. As one of the men then tried to grab her should, she immediately spun around and with her right hand, grabbed his wrist with violent force, snapped his wrist. Screaming in pain, he grabbed his arm, his hand now dangling like a sock full of quarters off his arm now. Immediately though, a single blow to the back of his head from her metal fist, instantly collapsed part of his skull in, killing him instantly.

Eyebrows scrunched in, and unlit eyes narrowing in rage, she immediately grabbed a second guy and with a single closing her hand, instantly crushed the guy's neck in, his violent choking suddenly giving way to blood spurting from his mouth before he went limp, dead. Upon killing him, the assailant then tossed his body aside, into a trash pile.

Her fingers suddenly began to grow longer before the ends were elongated knives, the ends were razor sharp. The drunken man, staggering to get away, was roughly three-hundred feet away when she chased him down, jumping at heights far greater than a normal human and caught up with him, a murderous glee in her dark eyes. As she punched him numerous times across the face, pieces of the drunkard's teeth fell out, along with strings of blood. A sadistic look of joy on her face, the eyes were solid dark lead gray, she then plunged her left hand into his chest. The victim's eyes widen unnaturally wide, mouth wide open, blood spattering out, body was convulsing. The woman's liquid metal hand exited out his back. The force of her fist impacting him was enough to completely penetrate the man's body and he was dead within 13 seconds. After her victim's body went limp, dead, the woman then tossed his body at towards a nearby dumpster with so much force that it buckled from the force of the body impacting. Breathing heavily from the adrenaline, her knife-like formations melted back into her fingers which then turned back to normal tan.

Having escaped from a specialized electricity-barred prison, she had finally breathed the first air of freedom in decades. The sense of superiority was overwhelming. Utilizing the liquid metal within the arms, the assailant clenched her fists and began punching into the asphalt leaving spider-web pattern impact craters. The sound of the voice indicated it was a woman. After several minutes of reminiscing, she looked at her metal fists, blood from the victims still evident on them. Finding a nearby warehouse, she tore the door off with her own bare hands, tossing it aside like a Styrofoam prop, and entered the place.

Both of her arms bloody, she searched for the nearest bathroom, and after a frantic search, found a faucet. Washing the blood off her arms took over a minute. Sensing company arriving though, she opened the nearest window, and escaped, fleeing into the night. The sound of police sirens were becoming audible again, which prompted her to flee.


End file.
